


Heirs of Hogwarts - Lord Ravenclaw

by Chelonie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Don’t copy to another site, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2019-12-29 22:05:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 13,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18302792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chelonie/pseuds/Chelonie
Summary: Barty Crouch Jr was one of Voldemort's most loyal Death Eaters. He also had a brilliant mind, even after Azkaban and years of being Imperius'd.This is an AU where Barty (Corwin to his friends) became the Heir of Ravenclaw. Voldemort recognised Corwin's brilliance, took him on as an apprentice, and refused to Mark him or send him on raids in order to protect this asset. He entrusted his Diary to Corwin rather than Lucius. And so, when he was defeated by a baby, Corwin is perfectly positioned to return his Master and fellow Hogwarts heir to life.Chapters alternate in time between 1981, when Voldemort was defeated, and 1989, when Harry Potter was discovered living at Privet Drive and returned to the care of his godmother Alice Longbottom.Work is abandoned and discontinued - I made the mistake of de-fanging Voldemort and killing Dumbledore, and without either as a proper antagonist, there's not enough drama to hold the story. Imagine that Harry and Neville have a happy childhood with Alice and Xenovia as their mothers, and a sane Hogwarts experience without Dumbledore trying to control Harry's life.





	1. Conversation with a Diary - November 4, 1981

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [West of the Moon, East of the Sun](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10454145) by [BlueMaple](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueMaple/pseuds/BlueMaple). 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barty Crouch Jr (aka Corwin aka Lord Ravenclaw) tells his Diary that Voldemort is dead...

_November 4, 1981  
Rowena Ravenclaw's Forbidden Library  
Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

I don’t even know how to say this… you died.

_How? Tell me?_

Rowena’s tits, it’s all so fucking _stupid!_ You went to kill the Potter brat, because of the prophecy, and the house exploded and the parents are dead and you are dead but the kid is alive, and Albus is calling him the Boy-Who-Lived and…

_Calm down, Bartemius. You know I’m not dead._

I know, but… you’re not exactly _here,_ are you?

_Oh my… you are upset. You let me call you Bartemius._

Of course I’m upset… my Master is DEAD!

_Listen, Corwin, we will get me back. Just breathe, and answer my questions. Did I draw on your magic?_

Yes. So much I had to sacrifice some relics before the drain ended.

_Better them than you. So you were left with complete magical exhaustion, but not fully drained?_

Yes. It’s been four days. I didn’t dare return to the Library until I recovered. I might have started absorbing the books.

_There’s a reason I entrusted my diary to you. You’re the one who is going to bring me back._

Yes. Anything for Master.

_So if I told you I wanted to eat your soul in order to regain my own body?_

Do it. Do it.

_Oh Corwin, I adore your loyalty. If I sacrificed you that way, your Master would feed me to fiendfyre. Besides, intelligent people are all too rare.  
     You have the Hidden Library. You can find the best way to recreate a body for me and then we'll find the other instance of myself to pour into it. _

I just don't understand why Master isn't _here,_ with your _horcrux_?

_I **told** you? _

No, you gave me your diary and told me to keep it safe. I worked out for myself that you had entrusted me with a piece of your soul.

_See? You're too intelligent to sacrifice and too loyal to lose. Build me a new body, Corwin, and I will tell you where my wraith has gone to recover._

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Corwin: Aw, Merlin, you have two Horcruxes, don't you?  
> Diary: Do you want the bad news, or the worse news?
> 
>  
> 
> (Barty Crouch Jr hates his father so much that I can’t see him willingly going by his father’s name. So he goes by his middle name, Corwin. Yes, the name means 'Raven'. I figure there's something in the magical water that makes Meaningful Names happen in Wix Britain.)


	2. No Knock Raid on Privet Drive - April 12, 1989

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bones sent her tiger patronus to the DMLE, and four more Aurors apparated onto the scene (another of them tried to wander off, but was corralled into noticing the house). “Remember, our first priority is the safety of the magical child. Second priority is the safety of the muggle child. Third priority only once the other two are accomplished is the apprehension of the muggle adult suspects. Ferguson, Rosier, your responsibility is to keep the rest of the muggles in this area from getting involved. Smith, Hickman, you go around back. Duerden, Filby, in the front with me.”

  **** _April 12, 1989  
Number 4 Privet Drive  
Surrey, England_

“This place is creepy,” whispered Auror Maud Duerden. She was an older woman, with brown skin and white curly hair, cut very short.

“Absolutely,” agreed her rookie partner Auror Herbert Filby.  They were disillusioned in a muggle neighbourhood, with a hot lead on a cold case. The kid had been missing for eight years, and though they knew the identity of the kidnapper, it didn’t help much. The man was dead, and neither Veritaserum nor Legilimency could be used on portraits.

“I don’t get it. Why do all of their houses look the same?” Duerden asked. “If it’s for camouflage, they shouldn’t put numbers on the front. And why don’t they grow anything useful in their gardens? What can they brew out of roses and begonias?”

“Muggles don’t brew, don’t you remember anything from Muggle Studies?” Auror Amelia Bones said. She was the lead Auror on this team.

“Er… I skived off that class, and crammed for the NEWTs with the help of a couple of muggleborns I was shagging. I don’t think I retained a damn thing,” Maud confessed. “Besides, that was, what, 50 years ago?”

As they approached number 4, Filby suddenly turned around and began walking back the way they came.

“Where are you going?” Bones demanded.

“I just remembered I have a appointment to get my floo cleaned… oh Merlin, those are some strong wards.” Filby trotted back, somewhat embarrassed.

“Blood wards,” Bones said. “I hate blood wards. Tied in with a Wix-Repelling spell, and a _Confunding.”_

“Is it safe to cross?” Duerden asked.

“I think….” Bones waved her wand and poked at the boundary. “I think the really dangerous effects are based on intent.”

“Should we call in a ward-breaker?” Filby asked.

“There may be a kid inside who needs us,” Duerden said. “Sod the ward-breakers.” She stepped over the ward boundary, and looked back at them. “Seems okay. Give me a minute.” She cast at the house, spells that wouldn’t have worked through the wards. “Two adults, both muggle. Two children, one muggle, one magical.”

Bones sent her tiger patronus to the DMLE, and four more Aurors apparated onto the scene (another of them tried to wander off, but was corralled into noticing the house). “Remember, our first priority is the safety of the magical child. Second priority is the safety of the muggle child. Third priority only once the other two are accomplished is the apprehension of the muggle adult suspects. Ferguson, Rosier, your responsibility is to keep the rest of the muggles in this area from getting involved. Smith, Hickman, you go around back. Duerden, Filby, in the front with me.”

* * *

Harry would always remember the day that he was taken away from the Dursleys. He had been locked in his cupboard for repairing Aunt Petunia’s favourite china figurine after Dudley had broken it. ( _Freak!)_ Aunt Petunia had screamed at him, thrown the figurine on the floor to re-break it, and made him clean it up. Then she sent him to the cupboard without lunch or dinner.

He thought he’d be awakened to make breakfast, but he wasn’t. He heard them in the kitchen. Aunt Petunia was cooking without him. Harry had long ago mastered peeing into a bottle, even in the dark of the cupboard, but smelling food cooking when he was hungry was awful.

Suddenly he sat up. He could _feel_ that something had changed. It was like a tickle down his spine. There was no reason to think that today was different than any other punishment day, but he _knew_ it was.

Then he felt that tickle again, and again, and again. The Dursleys hadn’t noticed anything. They were still talking and eating.

Then the front door opened. There hadn’t been a knock or a ring. But it opened, and footsteps were coming in. The Dursleys still hadn’t noticed.

And then his cupboard door was opened. He blinked in the sudden light. And he was sure, absolutely _sure,_ that someone was there. “Hello, why can’t I see you?” he asked.

Someone reached out and touched him on the head, and he had a feeling like an egg cracking over his skull. But now he could see that the person crouched in front of his cupboard was an older black woman in strange red robes. “There. Now you’re invisible too. Can you tell me your name?”

“I’m Harry Potter,” he said. “Who are you?”

“I’m Maud. I’ve been looking for you for a long time. Will you come with me?”

Harry didn’t hesitate. It didn’t matter who she was - it had to be better than here. About the time that he got to the door with Maud, the Dursleys started shouting.

Harry decided he didn’t care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canon DMLE: Nobody knows where Harry Potter is. This is fine!  
> Fanon DMLE: Harry Potter was kidnapped on the night his parents were murdered. We have been searching for him ever since! 
> 
> (If anyone is interested in the fate of the Dursleys, they are turned over to a wix aware branch of the muggle Child Protective Services, which is willing to accept magical evidence from the DMLE. They both go to muggle jail, and Dudley is raised by Aunt Marge for 8 months, until a Social Services inspection reveals that she is an animal hoarder and Dudley is living in squalor. Dudley is then sent to live with an estranged cousin of Vernon’s named Leonard Barker and his partner Muhammad Rahman who are willing to put in the love and effort it takes (along with copious amounts of therapy) to make Dudley a decent person again. After a few failed attempts to reconcile with his birth family, Dudley eventually chooses to let his foster fathers adopt him, and changes his name to David Barker Rahman, leaving his hated moniker ‘Dudley’ behind him forever.
> 
> Harry never encounters the Dursleys again.)


	3. Meeting of the Heirs - November 31, 1977

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Heir of Ravenclaw meets the Lord of Slytherin

**_November 31, 1977  
Lestrange Manor_**

When Corwin Crouch offered his fealty to Lord Voldemort, it was not due to opinions about blood purity. He didn’t care about that at all. His father was a pureblood, and his mother a half-blood, but he was in Ravenclaw, not Slytherin, and blood purity wasn’t much of an issue there.

But when their eyes met across the drawing room of Lestrange Manor, he felt a pull, and followed it, until he stood in front of a beautiful, imposing man with blood red eyes and a ring on his finger that was charmed so that most in the room couldn’t see it.

Corwin started to kneel, but his arm was grabbed roughly. “Not. Here.” hissed Voldemort. He dragged the teenager into a private room and flung him to the floor.

Corwin grinned up at him as he got to his knees. “Lord Slytherin.”

Riddle didn’t answer, but just grabbed Corwin’s chin and tore into his mind. Corwin didn’t try to fight him off - he knew the question he was asking. Was this 15 year old really the Heir of Ravenclaw?

The stories held that Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets held a monster. Rowena Ravenclaw’s gift to her Heir was the Forbidden Library. When Corwin had solved all of the puzzles, hidden throughout the castle, to finally reach it, he had been astonished at the books it held. Every book was one that had been banned from Hogwarts by one of its Headmasters. Even the portraits were of people whose likenesses had been removed from Hogwarts. Rowena did not approve of censorship, and so her library was the bastion of removed knowledge.

It was a treasure trove of Dark Arts study.

And it had also held the Heir of Ravenclaw Ring. Once Corwin reached his majority, he would have a seat on the Wizengamot, access to the Ravenclaw vaults in Gringotts, and would have votes on the Board of Governors.

It also allowed him to recognise any other Hogwarts Heirs, should they come into their inheritance during his lifetime, and he had gone through quite a lot of study to discover that there was a current Heir of Slytherin, a parselmouth who had graduated from Hogwarts in 1945, who had started going by a different name and gathering followers. He knew Tom Riddle’s secrets, and he didn’t care.

“That library…” Voldemort breathed.

“It’s magnificent, my Lord,” Corwin said. “It shows how far Hogwarts has fallen.”

“Hogwarts will rise again to its former glory. With you at my side…”

“You have my allegiance. For Hogwarts.”

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One has a LIBRARY! The other has a BASILISK!  
>  _THEY FIGHT CRIME!!!!!_


	4. St Mungo's High Security Ward - April 13, 1989

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Who are you?”
> 
> “Alice,” she said. Words were so hard for her sometimes, and she thought she would have trouble with a small boy who didn’t know her.
> 
> “My godmother?”
> 
> She nodded.
> 
> “Maud said you're the one who made them keep looking for me,” Harry said.
> 
> “Promised your Mum,” Alice said. “To care of you.”

_April 13, 1989  
St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries  
High Security Ward_

They put him in the hospital in the high security ward, under the name ‘Henry Green’ to try to keep his identity secret as long as possible. Starvation. Bruises. Broken bones that were healed improperly. Signs of several concussions. And no doubt emotional damage from being forced to live in a filthy cupboard.

When Alice Longbottom was finally admitted to see her godson, he had spent a night in hospital, with the benefit of a bath, and a first round of intensive potions. She still was so angry she wanted to kill the muggles who had done this to him. If she’d seen him in the cupboard, the Dursleys probably wouldn’t have survived.

She saw him lying asleep, probably under Dreamless Sleep. He was so small. So much smaller than her Neville. So thin. She picked up his glasses. Broken and taped together in several places. She looked through them, and could tell his vision was terrible. She saw healing bruises in several places.

She stroked his hair, the way she stroked Neville’s when he was sick. The way she stroked Frank’s when he had nightmares he wasn’t able to talk about.

A few hours later, he opened his eyes, and looked at her with wide-eyed suspicion, holding very still.

“Who are you?”

“Alice,” she said. Words were so hard for her sometimes, and she thought she would have trouble with a small boy who didn’t know her.

“My godmother?”

She nodded.

“Maud said you're the one who made them keep looking for me,” Harry said.

“Promised your Mum,” Alice said. “To care of you.”

Harry looked sad. “What was she like?”

“Like fire. So smart. So… words… she could make magic, new magic…?”

“Creative?” Harry suggested.

“Yes. Creative.” Alice said. “Loved you so much.” She stroked his hair again. “I love you too.”

Harry took her hand in both of hers and clung to it tightly. Alice thought he was the sort who would only cry alone, in the dark. He didn’t say anything to her before he fell asleep again, but he didn’t have to. He was here. Alive. She would keep him safe.

* * *

 

Harry was supposed to stay at St Mungos for a fortnight, but four days after his arrival, a swarm of people in red robes entered his room. One of them was Maud, who Harry felt safe with, so she tried to explain. “The newspaper has found out you are here. We’ve got to take you to your godmother’s house now.”

“Why would they care?” Harry asked.

“It’s a long story. Hold still… I’ve got to pluck one of your hairs,” she said.

“Wait, Maud,” Herbert said. “Harry Potter, do I have your permission to impersonate you for the next hour for the sole purpose of diverting attention while you are taken to a place of safety?”

Harry thought about the question, and looked at Maud. “It’s a legal requirement. He can’t do it unless you agree," she said.

“Oh. Then I agree,” Harry said.

Maud plucked one of Harry’s hairs, dropped it into a potion vial and handed it to Herbert. The young man drank it, and he began to shrink and his face melted and…

“Holy shit!” Harry exclaimed, so shocked at seeing a double of himself, that he actually let a swear word cross his lips.

“How do you even see?” the man said. “I’m blind!”

Maud took Harry’s glasses, then cast a spell that made a duplicate of them, tape and all, then handed them to her partner. “Better?”

“Somewhat. Harry needs an Oculist, badly.”

“And you need to change into hospital robes, Herbert,” Maud said. She handed him a fresh set, and Auror Filby pulled up his own, now oversized, Auror robes enough to walk over to the toilet so he could change in privacy. Harry was very glad for that. He didn’t want all of the Aurors here to see him naked.

Maud picked up a used potion vial and cast a spell on it. Harry thought she said ‘Porpoise’, but he wasn’t sure. “Put a finger on the vial, Harry. You need to be touching it, and it will bring you to your new home.” Two other Aurors joined her in touching the vial. Then she said “Blabbermouth,” and it felt as if a hook had grabbed him right behind his navel and yanked, and then he was swirling.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aurors should ask permission before climbing into your body. That's just polite. 
> 
> (*side-eyes the Battle of Seven Potters participants* *notes that the plan was conceived by Albus "I have no boundaries" Dumbledore*)


	5. Crime of Opportunity - November 8, 1981

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone's dead... someone we hate... is it Dumbledore?

**_November 8, 1981_ **

**_Rowena Ravenclaw's Forbidden Library_ **

**_Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ **

 

Guess what?

_It's far too early for you to have found a solution._

It's a nice surprise, but not that nice. 

_Someone's dead... someone we hate... is it Dumbledore?_

You are way too good at this game.

_I'm a diary. There aren't many things I desire, Corwin._

_How did you do it?_

How do you know it was me?

_You're my apprentice. Who else would it be?_

You're too good at this game. 

_How did you do it?_

I'd love to say it was a duel worthy of Grindelwald vs Dumbledore. But then, that would break my cover, so actually, I guess I'm glad it's boring. I was slipping onto the grounds using the superior invisibility spell we found in the Library two years ago, and I don't show on the wards being an Heir. He was taking a walk along the lake. He thought he was alone, I cast a killing curse. He never saw it coming.

_Well done, Corwin! I'd have like to have seen him suffer, but to kill him on the grounds of the castle... if I had hands, I'd be applauding._

Best of all? His wand?

  _Yes?_

I took it and it works for me better than any wand I've ever tried. Every spell is really powerful. I wonder if all of his fame wasn't him at all, but he just had a great wand.

_What's it made of?_

Oh yeah, how am I supposed to find out? Take a very distinctive looking wand carried by a high profile murder victim to Ollivanders? So yeah, there's the downside. It's too distinctive to use openly. 

_Wandlore isn't a thing you've read up on?_

Oddly enough, there are things I haven't. Not many, but still... I'll have to get around to it after I get you back. Right now, that's my priority.

_NO! Bartemius, this opportunity is priceless! The Headmaster slot is vacant! Get someone reasonable! Work with Lucius!  
_ _You'll have to come out as an Heir. Pressure the Board of Governors to do more than just pass it off to the Deputy._

This would be easier if you were here. 

     There won't be time! If you wait until I'm back, you'll have to murder the next Head to get another opening. Use this.   
     I'm saying this as Lord Slytherin. Do this to save our school. 

Yes, my Lord. Of course. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Corwin: Why can't I be an expert on wandlore?  
> Author: Because you're brilliant, and you have the world's greatest library, but you're also bloody 19!  
> Corwin: I read fast!  
> Author: You have the choice between reading an entire shelf about Mayan Calendrical Arithmancy or a single book about Trees and Creatures. Which do you pick?  
> Corwin: *sigh* The Arithmancy  
> Author: Did you even take Care of Magical Creatures?  
> Corwin: Eww, no.  
> Author: And Herbology?  
> Corwin: Not past OWL year.  
> Author: And why was that?  
> Corwin: Because I don't like being outdoors...  
> Author: I rest my case.


	6. Pinewood Cottage - April 17, 1989

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry is Portkey'd to his new home, meets a woman with rainbow hair, and gets all the Exposition about what happened to his parents, him, and the Longbottoms. 
> 
> Pinewood Cottage is in the Caledonian Forest. It's a Marchbanks property, not a Longbottom one. (Canon never gives a maiden name for Alice, so I've made her related to Griselda Marchbanks.) I wanted Neville to grow up in a rainforest, and believe it or not, there is one in Scotland! It's heavily protected, but I imagine the magical world liaises heavily with the muggle world to protect natural wilderness like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The term "Dark Wanker" for Voldy comes from the amazing series ["Harry Potter and the Road Not Taken"](https://archiveofourown.org/series/481666) by BlueMaple - I highly highly recommend it. https://archiveofourown.org/series/481666

**_April 17, 1989_ **

**_Pinewood Cottage - Caledonian Forest, Scotland_ **

When the world finally righted itself, Harry was in a different place, and two of the Aurors had caught him. He was in a beautiful room that had one wall all windows, looking out over a lush forest. The other three walls were painted to match the view out the window, so there were more trees, and flowers, and a stream running through it, all animated, and he could see the shadows of animals beginning to peer out from beneath the leaves, as if they were waiting to see who the newcomers were before they could show themselves.

There was a bed in the middle of the room, and it was huge! It was a four poster bed with the posters carved to look like tree saplings, with their branches entwined overhead to make it a canopy.

His godmother came into the room a moment later, leaning on a walking stick, along with another woman who was short and plump with rainbow coloured hair.

“Okay, red-coats, put him on the bed. He’s going all pale,” Rainbow lady said. “Alice, you need to sit. Aurors, you can go do… Auror things… around the property… if you need to. Oh, did any of you bring his notes?”

“I have them,” Maud said. “In the bed with you, Harry.”

“Okay,” Harry said, as he was very gently placed in the softest bed he’d ever experienced in his life, and the covers pulled up to his chin. Maud stayed in the room, while the other two Aurors left to do ‘Auror things’. Harry was amused to think that maybe Rainbow lady didn’t know any more than he did what those things were.

Alice and Maud took chairs near the right side of Harry’s bed, while the other lady plopped herself on the foot of Harry’s bed and crossed her legs. The bed was large enough that they weren’t even touching through the covers, but it still felt weird. He’d never had a bed big enough that people could sit on it with him. She looked through the notes from the hospital, then finally looked at him.

“I’m Zenovia Joy. You can call me Zenovia or Nova or Joy. I’m Alice’s friend, and I’m a reserve Healer for St Mungos. It’s not my regular job, but when they need extra help they can call me in. In muggle terms, I would be a nurse. So they trust me to take care of you at home,” she said.

“This is home?” he said.

“Yup!” she said. “Alice lives here, with her kid Neville, and her husband Frank, and her Dad, and their house elves. And now you live here too. This is your room. If you don’t like the walls, I can repaint them with something different, like Quidditch or dragons or muggle football…”

“No! I love it!” Harry said. “You painted it?”

“She is a very good painter,” said Alice.

“She is,” Harry agreed. He could almost feel like he was outdoors, if he could only smell the air. “Why did they move me? And make someone else look like me?”

“Someone at the hospital leaked that you were there,” Maud scowled. “It got into the Daily Prophet, and there will soon be a crowd of people trying to get a look at you.”

“But why?” Harry asked.

Zenovia looked at Alice. “I guess I should tell you, because Alice has a hard time with language, and I’m half-blood so I know how to put it all in muggle-speak, which Maud is shite at.”

“Language!” Maud said.

“Bite me,” Zenovia said cheerfully. “So what do you know about how your parents died?”

“I used to think they died in a car crash. But Maud said they were killed by a bad wizard.”

“He was the worst. He was so bad that he put a curse on his name, so that if you said it, his followers would appear right where you were, and attack you. So we started calling him You-Know-Who.” Zenovia’s face got a bit more serious as she spoke. “In 1970, he declared war against the Ministry of Magic, which is the government of the magical people of Great Britain. You-Know-Who wanted to enslave all muggles and become the immortal ruler over all. He and his followers, called Death Eaters, killed and tortured people. It was called the Death Eaters War, but it was really more similar to terrorist action, like the Troubles.” Harry didn’t know a lot about the Troubles, except for Uncle Vernon always stating loudly that nuking Dublin would solve everything. “There were never big battles with armies, like you would think of as a war. But to the wix world, because there are so few of us, it had the impact of a war. When there are only about sixty thousand magical people in Britain, it doesn’t take a lot of deaths to make an impact.”

“There are only 60,000 magicals in Britain? And this Dark Wanker thought he could subjugate the muggles? Can’t he _count_?” Harry said. “There are millions of muggles just in London! Or is magic that much more powerful than muggle weapons?”

Zenovia laughed in delight. “Dark Wanker. That is my new favourite name for You-Know-Who. And no, Harry, magic can do some pretty amazing things, but it’s not powerful enough for that. It’s pretty well understood that the Wanker was insane. And his followers might not have cared so much about subjugating all the muggles as they said. They mostly wanted to subjugate all the wix. So they’d be on top, and we’d be doing what they said, and everybody would go back to ignoring the muggles, once Dark Wanker was in charge. Probably. Luckily we never got the chance to find out for sure.”

Alice said, “A lot of us fought. Your Mum and Dad. Me and Frank. Maud.”

“Not Zenovia?” Harry asked.

“Not me,” Zenovia said. “I’m an artist and a pacifist. Then when people started dying, I trained as a Healer… but I refused to go into battle, except for once, and that was only because I really had to.

“It was a bad time to get pregnant, and neither Alice or Lily planned it. But once they did, they were both thrilled. They talked about whether they should leave the country, to find a safe place for their children. But all the ways out were being watched by then. And the Wanker had followers in Ireland and France and even America. So everyone stayed, and your mum and godmother fought until they were too big, and then they hid, and eventually had their babies in hiding. Then they went back to fighting as soon as they could. They would take turns keeping each other’s babies, so that if one of them got killed, the other one would be home safe. And then, just before you were a year old, they found out that You-Know-Who was going to target one of their babies.”

“Babies? Me?” Harry said.

“Yes. We didn’t know for sure which of you he was going to attack. He’d never specifically gone after a baby before. Usually if he attacked a home with children, the kids were stunned and left behind, even if their parents were killed. We knew it was going to be either you or Neville, but we didn’t - we still don’t - know why. They all went into hiding, Alice’s family in a house in Kent, and your family at Godric’s Hollow. And on Halloween night of 1980, You-Know-Who found where your family was hiding. He broke in, and he killed your parents. Then he tried to kill you with a spell known as the killing curse. But instead of killing you, it rebounded and hit him. And it destroyed him. No one had ever heard of that happening before.” Maud said.

Harry put his hand to his scar.

“And because that happened,” Zenovia said gently. “You are a celebrity in the wix world. People think you killed the Dark Wanker.”

“How?” Harry said. “I couldn’t have! I was one!”

“Your Mum,” Alice said. “She was smart. She did something to protect you.”

“Then why do they think it was _me_?” Harry said.

“Albus fucking Dumbledore,” said Zenovia. “He went and told the newspaper it was you, and he called you the Boy-Who-Lived, and said that the war had ended because of the innocence of a babe, and all that stupid rot.”

“Zenovia, language!” Maud said. Zenovia just rolled her eyes.

“Why did they listen to that guy?” Harry asked. “I was _one.”_

“Oh Merlin,” Zenovia said. “That gets into even more ancient history. Long before the dark wizard that we were just talking about, there was another dark wizard called Grindelwald, and he was trying to subjugate muggles during World War II. Dumbledore fought and defeated him - for real, in a duel that lots of people saw - and because of that, he was given a lot of power. Obviously too much power, but no one saw that then. They only thought he was their saviour, so they wanted him to be the Chief Warlock, and the Supreme Mugwump, and the Headmaster of Hogwarts, and they tried to make him Minister of Magic too. And he was one of the only leaders against You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters, and people trusted him. So when he said a baby had saved them, they believed him.”

“And then, he took you from the wreckage of your house and put you on the Dursley’s doorstep, instead of giving you to your godmother. And Alice kept asking him where you were, and he would just smile with a twinkle in his eyes, and say you were safe, in a loving home, and Alice shouldn’t worry, but of course it was her _job_ to worry.” Maud said.

“I promised your Mum,” Alice said.

“Wait, what? Dumblefuck put Harry on a _doorstep?”_ Zenovia nearly screeched. “I didn’t know that!”

“That’s what the muggles said when we questioned them. They found him on the doorstep! With a note, telling Mrs Dursley that her sister had been killed,” Maud said. “She still had the note.”

“That’s horrible!” Zenovia said. “Albus fucking Dumbledore was a terrible person! What if Harry had gotten hypothermia? What if he’d crawled away? What if someone had stolen him? Children aren’t supposed to be left outdoors by themselves!”

Harry felt strange, hearing an adult be outraged on his behalf, for something he didn’t even remember. He was pretty sure it wasn’t going to last. He knew he was a freak, and that he had deserved to be hated by the Dursleys. They didn’t want him, after all. It wasn’t their fault someone had put him on the doorstep, even if he hadn’t known that part of the story before.

The women had gone quiet, and Harry looked at them. They seemed to be uncomfortable, until Alice said, “Nova, tell the rest.”

Zenovia took a deep breath. “Okay, the rest. It was a few days after your parents were killed, and all the wix were celebrating the end of the war. But Alice and Frank were trying to find you. Dumbledore said he put you in a safe place, but he wouldn’t say where. Your godfather - not Frank, but a friend of your father’s - turned out to have been a bad guy all along, and he was just arrested. So Dumbledore said that’s why he had to keep you safe and hidden, because anyone could be a hidden Death Eater. And Alice was furious, because she said that, well, in that case, _Dumbledore_ could be a hidden Death Eater, so give back her kid. They kept fighting every time they met, and Alice was hiring a solicitor and getting ready to go to the Wizengamot - that’s magical Parliament - to fight for you.”

Harry’s mind was spinning. He had a godfather too? But who had betrayed his parents? A few days ago, he didn’t have any family at all!

“And then Dumbledore was found dead, near Hogwarts. And I went to see Alice right away, because I knew she’d be upset - he was the only one who knew where you were. But I got there and found her and Frank and Neville missing. They’d been taken. It took us days to find them. And that’s the only time I ever fought. I fought to get them back.”

“Is that when the brain damage happened?” Harry asked Alice. “That makes it hard for you to talk?”

“Yes,” Alice said. “Frank got hurt worse.”

“Frank was hurt so bad that he doesn’t remember anything,” Zenovia said. “He doesn’t talk and we aren’t sure if he understands when we talk.”

“And Neville?” Harry asked.

“They didn’t cast spells on him,” Maud said. “And they changed and fed him. But he was pretty scared.” Harry thought he was probably pretty scared the night he was left all alone on a doorstep. Or the first night he was put in a cupboard. Watching your parents being hurt by dark wizards would be more than ‘pretty scary’.

“The worst of the Death Eaters were captured that night by Zenovia and the Prewett boys and a couple of others. There are still some out there, but they but they are keeping a low profile now. But when you are in public, in the wix world, it’s possible there might be bad people who want revenge on you for their Master’s defeat. Because of Albus Dumbledore, and how everyone thinks it was you who defeated them.” Maud said.

“We’ll do our best to protect you from that,” Zenovia said. “But there will also be well meaning people who want to get close to you because they’ll see you as their saviour. And we’ll try and protect you from those too. Because you have the right to just be a normal person. You don’t have to be anybody’s saviour, or tell anyone about your life, or show anyone your scar, or sign autographs, or give interviews, or anything like that. Your job is to go to school, do your homework, make friends, and eat your vegetables.”

“They really would want me to sign autographs?” Harry said, pulling a face. “I’m just Harry!”

“We like Just Harry,” Alice said. “Just be you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daily Prophet Editor: "Okay, what are we calling this? The First Wizarding War?"  
> Reporter 1: "Doesn't that imply there will be a second? Do we really want to say that?"  
> Reporter 2: "Could be good for business... keep everyone reading after this one is over."  
> Reporter 1: "Not sure the Ministry will like that though."  
> Reporter 3: "Er... aren't you forgetting something? I kind of remember this guy named Grindelwald...."  
> Editor: "Oh yeah... So is this the Second Wizarding War then?"  
> Reporter 3: "Oh for Merlin sake, did none of you get a History of Magic OWL? We've had about 47 Wizarding Wars in Britain alone, not counting all the goblin rebellions."  
> Reporter 1: "Er, You-Know-Who's War?"  
> Reporter 2: "That just sounds stupid."  
> Editor: "We can't say The Dark Lord's War, because that'll alienate half our readers!"  
> Reporter 1: "And we can't say V.. V... his name's war, or he'll burn us to the ground."  
> Reporter 3: "Death Eater's War. You're welcome. Also, I quit. I'm retiring to write history books."
> 
>  
> 
> (JKR said somewhere that the magical population of Britain was about 3k. I boosted it to 60k, because I liked the idea of 1 in 1000 people being magical, and there were 60 million people in Britain at that time. Also, 3k? When a good portion of them won't marry the rest, and only have one child? That's extinction level...)
> 
> (Zenovia Joy is an OC who is quite important to the story. She stubbornly refused to be squashed into the identity of any named character from Alice's generation (I tried hard to make her a gender-swapped Prewett twin) and I finally threw up my hands and let her have her way. Auror Maud is a walk-on OC who is just refusing to walk off. She won't be quite as central, but I imagine we'll see her around.)


	7. Griselda Marchbanks - November 9, 1981

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The true Slytherin Common Room was a place full of activity, politics, deals, alliances, enmities. His Mind Palace held only Tom Riddle.
> 
> It was lonely. Even for a misanthrope like himself.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Diary!Tom listens in as Corwin lures his favoured candidate into applying at Hogwarts

**_November 9, 1981_ **

**_Tom Riddle's Mind Palace_ **

Tom had often cursed himself for his decision to create… himself… over the years. He clearly remembered making the decision to split his soul the first time, and yet he had also imagined that he would do so and carry on with his plans for the world.

He’d somehow failed to factor into his decision that there would be part of him left trapped in a book, unable to affect the world unless someone wrote in his pages.

He had had words with Voldemort over this failing… and Voldemort had had to do quite a lot to placate him. He had allowed the more intelligent members of his Inner Circle to spend time with him over the years, though he had refused to allow Tom to absorb enough of them to regain a body. Voldemort argued, and Tom eventually had agreed, that they simply didn’t know what would happen if there were two Tom Riddle bodies that were part of one soul. So Tom sipped a little soul here and there, enough to furnish his Mind Palace better and add some skills that his original self didn’t have.

It was Abraxas Malfoy who turned out to be a cello player. Tom asked for sheet music to be placed between his pages, and began to play. Sometimes he would craft a set of clones to make the other members of a String Quartet - the most mindstates he could manage at one time - and play for hours. Sadly the other clones were not much use for conversation, when he knew what they were going to say. He couldn’t even play chess with them, since he knew their moves. Music and sex was pretty much the only use he’d found for them, and despite being a teenage boy, he no longer had hormones driving him. Sex was mostly something he did to pass the time rather than because he felt a need for it.

His Mind Palace was a variation of the Slytherin Common Room, his true home. The windows into the Black Lake, with mermaids and grindylow  and occasionally the Great Squid (only images of them - his mind couldn’t create a sentient water creature) swimming by - he had fallen in love with them at first sight. There was a crackling fire with the armchair where the King (or Queen, at various times in his schooling) of Slytherin held court. There were bookcases, warded against theft. He had photographs of the confidantes who had written in him over the decades. No one who had written in him had ever been an artist, so he didn’t know how to make them into full magical portraits, able to converse with him. If he could have done it all over, he would have somehow acquired that skill before making his first horcrux.

The true Slytherin Common Room was a place full of activity, politics, deals, alliances, enmities. His Mind Palace held only Tom Riddle.

It was lonely. Even for a misanthrope like himself.

Corwin was the most intelligent and interesting holder of his diary since he’d been created. For one, he wrote every day, seeming to understand that Tom was an actual person who desired conversation, and not just a clever piece of magic. Corwin had also grasped immediately that Tom and Voldemort were the same person.

 _He knew I was a horcrux, from the very first,_ Tom realised. _He knew, and he wasn’t repulsed._

Tom remembered how Corwin was the one who figured out that if the diary was left open, Tom could hear conversations in the same room. Corwin knew to leave books resting on his open pages, so that Tom could “read” them (it actually let him add them to the bookshelf in his Mind Palace). Corwin never missed a day writing to him unless he was badly indisposed, such as his magical exhaustion after Voldemort’s death.

 _That “magical exhaustion” may have saved Voldemort._ When the Dark Lord had taken Corwin as his apprentice, they had formed a mutual magical bond that would allow either to call on the magic of the other in extreme need. Voldemort never would have done that if he didn’t trust Corwin’s loyalty completely, and from everything Tom could tell, without being able to perform direct Legilimency on Corwin himself, that trust was justified. Whatever backlash had destroyed Voldemort’s body had very nearly banished the soul fragment that still rested in his body. Without the link to Corwin, and the magic he had been able to draw on that night, he would have been gone.

Tom Riddle would still be immortal, and his followers could still have brought him back from his most recent horcrux, the diadem, but all of the memories and experiences Voldemort had gained in the years since then would have been lost.

If Voldemort ever returned  to a body, he would owe his apprentice a Life Debt.

* * *

Tom mused on this as he played the cello, deciding he didn’t mind at all if _Voldemort_ owed someone a Life Debt. It probably wouldn’t apply to him - not that he could imagine any way in which he could fulfill such a thing in his current position. And Corwin was _interesting._ If he had to owe a Life Debt to anyone, then his fellow Hogwarts Heir was the best possible choice.

His attention was drawn by the sensation of the floo. He was in Corwin’s pocket (Corwin had attached an inner pocket to his robes that held his diary open as he went about the world, to let him hear and sense what was going on) and when they exited the grate, he heard Corwin say, “Madame Marchbanks.”

“Master Crouch,” she replied. “Please, have a seat.”

“Corwin, please. Or Master Corwin if you must,” he said.

“Master Corwin then,” she said. “To earn a Mastery in any subject is a true accomplishment. To earn two Masteries before the age of twenty is a sign of brilliance. To learn one of them in a banned subject as well shows that you are a genius.”

Corwin had earned his Masteries in Arithmancy and Blood Magic, the latter of which was illegal in Wix Britain. It was perfectly legal in Wix Ireland, which is where he had gone to take his Mastery exam. The Ministry could not do anything about him _knowing_ the subject, as long as they couldn’t prove he _used_ it in their jurisdiction. He _had,_ of course. Most of his apprenticeship with Voldemort in the subject had been in Britain. But no one could prove it. Corwin didn’t advertise his Blood Magic Mastery, but Madame Marchbanks held the same Mastery, hers earned back when it was still legal, and she had been one of his examiners in Dublin.

“I know you are interested in education, Madame Marchbanks,” he said. Tom tried to imagine how Corwin would be sitting now. Nervous? Hands twitching? He knew political machinations were not Corwin’s strong suit, but he didn’t know the younger wizard’s tells. He had a photo of him on his wall, but that wasn’t the same as knowing him in three dimensions. “I am too. I have been since second year, and realising how insufficient the elective offerings were at Hogwarts.”

“Yes,” she said. “So many classes have been lost since my day.”

“Even ignoring the Ministry banned subjects,” he said. “Where is Wix Etiquette? Politics and Law? Latin? Any of the languages? Ritual Magic? Warding? Healing? Domestic Magics?” Tom could hear Corwin take a breath, then continue passionately. “I’ve been in contact with students at other magical schools. Most of them offer far more to their students. Different tracks for students with different interests, such as a Runes and Warding track, or a Spellcrafting track, or a Politics track.”

“And there is a vacancy at Hogwarts,” Madame Marchbanks said. “But they will almost certainly appoint Professor McGonagall to the role. She is a competent teacher, but not an innovator.”

“Professor McGonagall has just taken on a new Transfiguration apprentice,” Corwin said. “That wouldn’t stop the Board of Governors offering her the job, or stop her accepting it. She would just say she could handle the workload. But if another candidate was available, she would probably be quite content to remain a teacher.”

 _And probably grateful. What was Albus Dumbledore thinking, making the same person Head of House, Deputy Headmistress, and teacher of a core subject?_ This was something he and Corwin had spent far too much time discussing - how to improve education at Hogwarts. Corwin had even gone to two years at Muggle university to get a degree in Education (an activity that had sadly been put on hold due to Voldemort’s demise) and one thing they had agreed on was that the Hogwarts teachers were badly overworked.

“You want me to do it,” Madame Marchbanks said. “What makes you think I would have the support?”

“This,” Corwin said. Tom knew he was showing her the Ravenclaw Lordship ring.

There was a long silence before she said. “... You found Rowena’s Library? You’re Lord Ravenclaw?” And then there was laughter, “Well done, Corwin. I was a Claw, and I only got about a quarter of a way into the quest. It was the goblin mathematics that stopped me.”

“Oh those were my favourite puzzles!”

“Tell me about the library!”

Tom could hear the excitement in her voice. Joy. She was genuinely thrilled that the puzzle had been solved at last, and Tom could detect no envy. She was far more delighted about the library than she was about the opportunities the Lordship created. _Ravenclaws._

Eventually they got back to the opportunities. And despite Corwin not being a natural at manipulation, he got what he wanted from her.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Diary!Tom knows people the way we know people through the internet. He knows their words, sometimes their voices or their pictures. But he doesn’t know their physicality. He doesn’t know how they move in the world, or how the world responds to them. 
> 
> Tom: Bwahahaha! My great triumph! I have created a horcrux!  
> Tom: ....  
> Tom: Wait, where did everything go? It's all white and...  
> Tom: Papery?.....  
> Tom: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Let me out!!!!!!!!!


	8. Family: April 18-April 30, 1989

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Greatly Selda is the head of the Marchbanks family," Neville said. "You would have met her by now, except she’s Headmistress at Hogwarts, and she can’t get away easily during the school year. But she’s definitely coming for Beltane, and she’ll welcome you to the family then.”
> 
> Harry gave a weak smile, and Neville didn’t think he was completely reassured. “What if she doesn’t want me in the family? I’m not a Marchbanks.”
> 
> “Family isn’t just blood,” Neville said. “Dad isn’t a Marchbanks by blood. Zenovia isn’t a Marchbanks by blood. I have a gay cousin, and he and his husband adopted both his kids, and they get to participate. Family is who you love, not who you’re related to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For this story:  
>  ~~'Madam' is the title for an unmarried female head of family. This outranks her other titles 'Master' (she has multiple masteries), 'Professor', or 'Headmistress', 'Lady' is the title for a married female head of family, 'Baron' is the title for an unmarried male head of family, 'Lord' is the title for a married male head of family~~
> 
> Commenter professor found the problem with the above, so instead:  
> 'Madam' is the title for a respected elder witch in the community, often a head of family, usually one holding much knowledge. (Madam Malkins is another such - despite her working with her hands for a living, she is highly respected for her knowledge of (traditionally) Women's Magics of sewing and embroidery that she passes down through her apprentices). This usage begins from below, with people beginning spontaneously to use the title, rather than imposed from above. 
> 
> The equivalent for a wizard is 'Sir'. It was a great disappointment in Dumbledore's life that no one had started calling him 'Sir Dumbledore' before he died. 
> 
> Lord and Lady are the titles for a heads of family (Or in the case of Lord Voldemort - someone who decided that he didn't need family so he was going to go and murder them all... lol)

**_April 18-April 30, 1989_ **

**_Pinewood Cottage - Caledonian Forest, Scotland_ **

Over the next few days, Harry met the rest of his new family. He had been most afraid of meeting Neville, afraid his godbrother would be another Dudley, or that he would resent sharing his mother with Harry. Instead Neville was shy and kind, and very welcoming. Bellamy Marchbanks, who insisted on being called ‘Papaw’, was Alice’s father. He brought Harry books and toys, and promised to take them all out hiking once Harry was well. (Harry thought he was well enough already, but according to Zenovia, Harry hadn’t been properly ‘well’ in a very long time…)

Neville took Harry to meet Frank after he decided that Harry was safe. Harry could see how protective Neville was of his father, and he was determined to prove himself worthy of the honor. The first day, he spoke quietly to Frank, and they played a game of gobstones together. Frank didn’t really play for points - he just laughed when the goop squirted out, no matter who it hit. The next day, they all climbed in Harry’s bed together, and Neville read a book to them. It wasn’t clear how much of what they said could be understood by Frank. It could be he was only looking at the pictures and responding to tone of voice. But he clearly loved and trusted Neville completely.

The other family members were the house elves. Harry was having a hard time figuring out how many of them there were, or what their names were. It wasn’t because they looked alike - that was one thing Vernon often laughed about, how much different ethnic groups all looked the same. The house elves all had far more differences than humans did, in their colours, and the sizes and shapes of their ears and their noses. But they kept disappearing if he took his eyes off them for one second, or even between blinks.

He knew that Lolly was the elf that was Frank’s primary caretaker. She was just as protective of Frank as Neville was, and it took her much longer to decide that Harry was a safe person to be around her charge. Bippy was visible around Neville often enough that Harry had gotten to know him, and he finally learned that Bippy had been Neville’s nanny-elf since he was a baby.

“Most pure-blood wix have nanny-elves,” Neville said matter of factly. “Elves are very good at helping to control accidental magic without hurting the babies.”

“Do you think I had one?” Harry asked. Then he coloured. “No, I wasn’t pure-blood.”

“Your Dad was pure-blood. He might have had house-elves. Papaw can find out,” Neville said. And though Harry was embarrassed, when Neville asked Papaw that evening, Papaw said he was already looking into it.

“The Potters had elves. I’m just trying to find out where they went after your parents died,” Papaw said.

“How come?” Harry asked.

“How come?” Papaw said incredulously. “Because they’re your family, boy.”

Harry winced, and Zenovia scolded Papaw. Everyone knew he _hated_ to be called ‘boy’, but Papaw still slipped up occasionally.

Papaw apologised, then said, “You see, Harry, if you had house-elves when you were a baby, then you’ll have a whole family of aunts and uncles and cousins out there. You're not alone anymore, Harry. You never have to be."

* * *

About a week after Harry arrived at Pinewood Cottage, Alice and Zenovia and Papaw sat down with him to discuss school.

“What school do you want?” Alice asked. “Muggle still?”

Zenovia added, “There are three options. Muggle school. Floating homeschooling. Or a private tutor.”

“What does Neville do?” Harry asked cautiously.

“Floating homeschool,” Papaw said. “Most wix are homeschooled or tutored until Hogwarts. Each family will specialise in a certain topic, and we send our kids around to different homes each day.”

Harry squared his shoulders. “I want to do that then. If it’s okay?”

Alice smiled, and Harry could see it was a real smile. “Yes.”

It sounded kind of complicated, once they started to explain it. He wouldn’t be able to just do everything with Neville, since he and Neville had never studied the same subjects. He was ahead of Neville in math, reading, science, and ‘muggle studies’ (Harry figured that meant that Harry knew more about the muggle world than Neville did). Neville was ahead in magic theory, Latin, French, etiquette, and politics.

(Harry was kind of relieved. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally doing better than Neville on something.)

“We’ll start you after Beltane," Papaw said.

Harry was embarrassed to say that he didn't know what Beltane meant. He decided to ask Neville later.

* * *

Neville was astonished to learn that muggles didn’t celebrate Beltane, and so this would be Harry’s first. “Oh, it’s the best! We all go to the mmm-mmmm….” He had tried to say where the celebration was held, and his mouth sealed shut as if there was glue between his lips.

“What’s wrong?!” Harry cried. “Neville!”

Bippy popped into sight, laughed at Neville, and touched his lips, then vanished again.

“It’s okay!” Neville said. “I forgot you haven’t officially been welcomed to the family yet by Greatly Selda. Until you are, there are family secrets I can’t say to you.”

“Oh,” Harry said, and Neville could see him shrinking in on himself. Neville thought about his words, and realised what was wrong.

“Greatly Selda is the head of the Marchbanks family. You would have met her by now, except she’s Headmistress at Hogwarts, and she can’t get away easily during the school year. But she’s definitely coming for Beltane, and she’ll welcome you to the family then.”

Harry gave a weak smile, and Neville didn’t think he was completely reassured. “What if she doesn’t want me in the family? I’m not a Marchbanks.”

“Family isn’t just blood,” Neville said. “Dad isn’t a Marchbanks by blood. Zenovia isn’t a Marchbanks by blood. I have a gay cousin, and he and his husband adopted both his kids, and they get to participate. Family is who you love, not who you’re related to.”

* * *

It was on April 30 that Harry met Madam Griselda Marchbanks for the first time. 

The whole family, including the house-elves, who had made themselves visible for the occasion, were waiting around the largest fireplace for Madam Marchbanks to floo in. When she stepped out of the giant fireplace, Harry saw she was the oldest woman Harry had ever seen, tiny and stooped, but sharp eyes that seemed to see everything.

She took one look around the room, then her eyes fixed on Harry.

Alice put a hand around Harry's shoulder and said, "My godson, Harry James Potter."

Greatly Selda looked Harry over in a way that made him feel like he was an insect pinned to a board. He felt even more like that when she took a small silver knife out of her belt. He knew what was going to happen, but it was still alarming when she cut her hand and traced runes in her own blood on his forehead and hands.

“Welcome to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Marchbanks, Harry James Potter.” And as she said those words, Harry could feel something settle over him like a blanket - the sound of birds, the smell of pine needles, and the love of secret places in the forest. It was the sense of the Marchbanks family magic, and he could feel tears in his eyes. He could feel it welcoming him.

Alice  hugged him tightly, and Papaw ruffled his hair, and Zenovia cheered and started taking pictures, and Frank laughed, and the house-elves clapped, and then popped away. “Come on, Harry, we can change into muggle jeans now!” Neville said, and grabbed his hand and tugged him away.

“Why jeans?” Harry asked.

“Because we’re going to go hiking after lunch to get to the Elf Sanctuary- see? I can say it now! One of our family secrets is that we guard the Elf Sanctuary, and that’s where we go to hold the Beltane celebrations!”

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry: So there's an Elf Sanctuary, but I'm not allowed to tell Hermione about it?  
> Author: Yup!  
> Harry: Fourth year me hates you!  
> Author: Fourth year you hated everyone, remember?  
> Harry: Oh yeah...
> 
> * * *
> 
> (Re: Technically Griselda just practised Blood Magic, which is illegal in Great Britain - which is why she used the shortest form of the ritual in which she was the only one to shed blood, rather than all the family members doing so. Small amounts of blood used in family rites are legal, but frowned upon, but since it's family rites, they'll fall under the family secrets and won't be blabbed to outsiders, even accidentally. Griselda didn't used to be such a stickler for obeying the law, but now that she's Headmistress of Hogwarts, she wants to protect her position.)
> 
> Next time: Beltane - and Harry meets some more of the Marchbanks clan. Who do you think should be part of the Marchbanks family? I think at least a few of Harry and Neville's classmates, but I haven't settled on which ones. (Not the Weasleys though... that opens up a large can of red-headed plot worms!)


	9. Substitutions - December 18, 1981

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corwin and the Diary discuss how to adapt a resurrection ritual.
> 
> * * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommendation:  
> [Ouroboros](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14270454/chapters/32915175) by BrilliantLady  
>  _Summary:  
>  The first time Harry became a snake slithering through a forest, he thought he was dreaming. But he soon realised that in fact he was switching bodies with a magic snake. A very special snake who swiftly became his childhood friend – for when he came back to Privet Drive after body-swapping things were always better for him._
> 
> * * *

_**Rowena Ravenclaw's Forbidden Library** _

_**December 18, 1981** _

 

Alright, I know why you didn’t come back.

_    Yes? _

The horcrux was supposed to pop you right back into your body, and hold you there until the damage could be repaired. 

_    Except it didn’t. _

It might have tried. But the magical backlash from the event didn’t only hit you with an AK. It sort of blew up the side of the house in Godric’s Hollow. Your body ended up with a massive shard of wood stabbed through the brain.

_    Pleasant. So… not repairable. _

Indeed. And then there was the public cremation. The Ministry was taking no chances. But you would not have wanted to come back to a body with a pureed brain.

_    How did you learn all of this? _

You’re speaking to Hogwart’s new Archivist. I’ll be working with Madam Pince most of the time, but the first job that Madam Marchbanks put me on was archiving Dumbledore’s office. Including his unlabeled Penseive vials.

_    Salazar’s Shoebuckles!  _

I know! Want to know the best/creepiest part? The memory of your death is obviously from the  _ baby’s  _ mind. Someone went and  _ Legilimised  _ a 15 month old!

_    Ewww! That bastard! Thank you again for killing him! _

So… anyway, you have no body. We need to make you a new one. I’ve found a ritual, but I don’t like it.

_    Tell me. _

Bone of the father, Flesh of the servant, Blood of the enemy. There’s more to it than that, of course, but that’s the gist.

_    And the problem? _

Your father was a muggle. I don’t like thinking how that will interfere. And the enemy - well, Dumbledore would have been ideal, and I did actually take a little bit of blood from him after I killed him, but a dead enemy…? Ehhhh… not the best plan. It might make you undead, and part muggle besides.

_    How did you know about my father? _

I know everything, Riddle. And your secrets are mine, remember? You have my word. 

_    The ritual can be adapted. These things usually have a rhythm to them, using archetypes and some form of essence. Blood, tears, sweat, seed... _

You want me to wank into a cauldron?

_    Most humans are created by someone ejecting seed into a living cauldron, Bartemius.  _

My name is  _ Corwin _ , you plonker.

_    Use the bone of an ancestor. Any of the Gaunt line. Magic of the student. You aren’t my servant, and I won’t have you cutting off bits of your flesh. And you are correct, I don’t want any part of Dumbledore, dead or alive. And the last will be… Blood of a memory, bitterly released.  _

???

_    Me. You’ll empty me into the cauldron. All of my essence. I never should have made a sentient horcrux. I want to be embodied. _

What about Master?

_    We’ll find him, and I’ll… merge with him, I guess.  _

_    Please, Corwin. _

_    Don’t leave me in here. _

Fuck, Tom.

Tell me where he is. I need to talk to him before I can do that. He’s my Master.

_    I thought you’d say that. _

I’ll get you out of the book, I swear. It might not be the way you are envisioning, but I’ll do it. Just tell me where to find Master.

_    … _

_    If he couldn’t have returned to his body, then he would have fled, at once, towards one of the other horcruxes. A disembodied soul shard is extremely weak, and if Dumbledore had encountered him, it would have been all over. _

Are you sure he didn't?

    _You have the bond with him. You would have felt it._

True. He was weakened, but not destroyed.

_    Since he isn’t here, then… I think after such a defeat, he would have gone to the safest location, which is Albania. _

Er… that doesn’t narrow it down much. 

_    Valbona Valley. The Magical part, obviously. My wraith might possess snakes to get by. _

I just looked that up. 50 sq miles for Magical Valbona Valley? That still doesn’t narrow it down much.

_    Oh quit whingeing and book a Portkey. I’ll guide you when we get closer. _

I hear and obey, my soon to be embodied friend.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canon!Dumbledore: So my sources tell me Voldemort is in Albania...  
> Canon!Harry: What sources?  
> Canon!Dumbledore: You know... sources....  
> Canon!Harry: So, you were interrogating snakes? Like, all over Europe? Until you found the one that Voldemort was inhabiting? Do you know how many snakes there are just in Hogwarts? Neither do I, because there are more than I can count, and I talk to all of the ones I meet!  
> Canon!Dumbledore: I HAVE MYSTERIOUS POWERS!!!!!  
> Canon!Harry: *cough* AuthorPowers *cough*
> 
> * * *


	10. Beltane pt 1 - April 30-May 1, 1989

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Marchbanks clan celebrates Beltane at the Elf Sanctuary.
> 
> * * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommendation:  
> [A Prince in Lion's Clothing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17538215/chapters/41324444) by Sablesilverrain _Harry discovers he isn't the Potter everyone thought he was. His life takes an unexpected turn as he searches out the truth of who he really is and what his legacy is supposed to be._
> 
> * * *

**_April 30-May 1, 1989_ **

**_Elf Sanctuary - Caledonian Forest, Scotland_ **

 

Lolly was a Longbottom elf. She had been born at Longbottom Manor, and she had raised three generations of Longbottoms. She had fully expected Neville to be the fourth generation.

But Alice Marchbanks had brought her own nanny-elf, Bippy, with her to the marriage, and she had placed her newborn son into Bippy's arms. 

_(This was only the first, of many, disputes between the Marchbanks and the Longbottom sides of the family.)_

 

When Neville's parents were hospitalised after the attack, he was placed with Lady Longbottom, and she had summoned Lolly back into her service to be Neville's primary nanny elf. And though Lolly had wanted this job more than anything, she was not a stupid elf. She saw that her Little Master was traumatised at losing his parents and his nanny all at once. So when Lady Longbottom wasn't looking, she called Bippy to let him care for Neville, and she kept a lookout to keep Bippy from getting caught.

_(In most households, nobody notices elves. Longbottom Manor was not one of the exceptions. Bippy was never caught.)_

 

Alice had to fight for custody of Neville after she was discharged from hospital, because her language disorder made Lady Longbottom question her maternal fitness. It took all the considerable political power of the Marchbanks clan for her to win a case that should have been a simple mother's right to custody of her own child. Lolly was glad for Neville, that he was back with his mother. She knew he wasn't happy at Longbottom Manor. But she wept the day he was taken away. 

It was thanks to Bippy that she was here now. After Alice got her son, her next battle was to get her husband released from the hospital. That had been an even more difficult battle. Lady Longbottom thought Frank belonged at St Mungo's, but Alice was sure he would get better improvement at home. She wrote up a care plan and hired a Healer, and Bippy had suggested to her that she get Lolly in to take care of Frank.

Alice agreed at once, and so Bippy went to her and asked her to come. It meant leaving the service of the main branch of the Longbottom family, something that she found terrifying to do. But even Lady Augusta Longbottom, one of the most terrifying witches in the world, finally agreed that if Frank couldn't be at St Mungo's, that she would rather have his nanny-elf looking out for him than not.

_(That didn't reduce the bad blood between Augusta and Alice - those two witches would never get along.)_

 

Lolly was overjoyed to have Frank back in her care. Lady Longbottom had fought them at every step, but Frank really  _had_ improved when he was in a home, being fed home cooked meals, getting personalised care. He had gone from being nearly catatonic to responding to his environment, then expressing preferences and communicating non-verbally. He would never be his old self, but he was able to be a loving family member here. 

She was about to take Frank to the Beltane celebration, and he would have a wonderful time. 

But Lolly couldn't help but be sad that it was something that was only possible because there were Marchbanks around. She was still a Longbottom elf. And she wished that the Longbottoms had been better to both of her boys.

* * *

Bippy was proud to be a Marchbanks elf. He kept a careful watch on Harry and Neville as they hiked up the trail, laughing and chatting. Harry kept looking back at the grownups, who were farther back, and moving slower, occasionally having to levitate Greatly Selda or Papaw over some of the more challenging bits.  _He thinks they are going to abandon them,_ Bippy thought sadly. He knew that Harry had nightmares every night still, and that Alice and Zenovia knew and were trying to decide how to handle it. They knew he needed Mind Healing, but Alice wanted Zenovia to do it, and Zenovia said it wouldn't be right because she was a family member. Alice didn't understand why that was. Bippy didn't either. If Zenovia could do it, then she should. Harry already liked her. Meanwhile, Papaw seemed to have something else in mind, but he hadn't said what yet. He just said he was 'working on it.'

"Harry!" Neville shouted.

Bippy popped right to his side, because there was a note of alarm in his voice. Harry had fallen and skidded a few feet down a steep part of the trail, that was all. 

"Is Harry hurt?" Bippy asked.

"No," Harry said, standing up and wiping his hands on his jeans. "I'm fine."

"Bippy smells blood," Bippy said. "Can Bippy see?"

Reluctantly, Harry held out his hands. Both were scraped, one badly. And he hadn't made a sound. "Harry does not have to hurt anymore," Bippy said. "Not ever." He touched both hands gently and first the hands were cleaned, and then healed. 

"Thank you, Bippy," Harry said quietly.

"Thanks Bippy!" Neville said. "Come on, Harry! We're almost there!" He grabbed Harry's hand and led him on.

* * *

Linelly had been a Potter elf all her life until  _The Bad Night_ when Master and Missus had been killed, and Little Master was left alone. He was taken away by the Giant Man, and the elves waited for them to be called again. Surely whoever cared for Little Master would want Little Master's nanny elf at least, and perhaps a few of the other elves could have a place as well. 

But time passed, and nobody called. Master's and Missus's bodies were buried, and the cottage was sealed, and nobody called for the elves.

And so, after enough time, they had found their way, by whispers and rumours, to the Sanctuary of the Elves: A place where any elf could go if their Masters were cruel or they had no place or they were too old or sick to work. A place built by elves for elves. A place that no witch or wizard entered without express permission of the Council of Elder Elves. 

The Sanctuary was guarded by the Marchbanks clan - elves could not _legally_ own land, after all. The land all around the Sanctuary was owned by the Marchbanks. But the Sanctuary itself was _magically_ owned by the elves, and they could keep even the Marchbanks out if they chose. It had been Beatrice Marchbanks, 650 years ago, incensed by her father's treatment of her favourite house-elf, who had established the Sanctuary after he died. And generations of witches and wizards and house-elves had added enchantments and securities to the Sanctuary ever since. 

Linelly and the other Potter elves had been astonished when they'd arrived to find house-elves living alone, without human Masters and Mistresses, choosing their own work. After a time of adjustment, Linelly had found her work. She had found a mate and a child. She loved it here.

But now she had heard that the last Potter had been found. And she was in distress, not knowing whether she was bound to go back to service to the last Potter, or to stay with her family here.

She still called herself a Potter elf. So she would have to meet the Little Potter and then decide.

* * *

Harry and Neville ran under an arch of flowers, and suddenly there were elves  _everywhere!_ There were small houses up in the trees and nestled down among the roots - too small for humans, but the perfect size for house-elves. The elves were decorating their doors with flowers, and a little elf offered flower crowns to Harry and Neville shyly before running away. 

"How many elves live here?" Harry asked.

"More than anybody knows," Neville said. "Some of them have lived here all their lives. Some of them only come here for a short time, after leaving one household, before joining another. There is enough magic in the land here to sustain all the elves, if they all wanted to come here at once. But it has to be a secret, because there are bad people who wouldn't like them having a safe place to go."

"And the Marchbanks protect them?" Harry said.

"They can protect themselves," Neville said. "The Marchbanks protect the secret though."

"Oh," Harry said. He wasn't sure he understood the difference.

A voice called out from farther down the path. "Neville!" It was an older boy, who had a dark skinned girl with him.

"Cedric! Alicia!" Neville called out. "Is Luna here yet? And Vinnie?"

"I'm right here," said a soft voice. Harry turned around to see a blonde girl who looked about his age. "Congratulations on your adoption."

"Er... what?" Harry said.

"The elves said you were just adopted today," Luna said. "You're Harry Marchbanks Potter, right?"

"It all happened so fast," Harry said. 

"You're a Marchbanks and a Potter," Neville said. "Just like I'm a Marchbanks and a Longbottom. Come on, let me introduce you to the others. This is Luna Lovegood." The girl put her arm through Harry's, as they went towards the older kids. "This is Cedric Diggory, and Alicia Spinnet. Vinnie Crabbe was supposed to be here."

"None of us have Marchbanks as our last name?" Harry said. 

Neville shrugged. "There are a pair of twin Marchbanks that are a bit younger, about five. They're probably with their parents. Several of the Marchbanks that are school age go to Beauxbaton or Durmstrang, so they don't usually make it over for Beltane. You'll probably meet them at the Summer Solstice."

Harry heard a pair of running footsteps coming up behind - someone heavy running -  _Harry hunting._

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" the boy shouted.

_"I'm coming for you! You can't hide from me, Harry!"_

"I got you - I got you -"

_"I'll get you. I'll get you."_

Harry broke free from Luna and Neville and took off running, dodging among the trees and elves, until he decided he was far enough ahead to shimmy up a tree as high as he could get.

Vincent Crabbe stopped among the group of children, looking confused that someone had just run away from him. "I got you - all some - bannock," he said, puffing, and holding out a bag of elf-made pastries.

* * *

 

Gale was a young elf, who had been born in the Sanctuary. She looked out when her house started swaying more than was normal in the wind, and found a human boy, cowering in the tree, trying not to be seen from the ground. Her Mum had told her she couldn't go to the Festival without a grownup. Did a human count as a grownup? Maybe she could ask him.

"Hello," she said, looking out the window out him. "Are you a grownup?"

"Er... no?" he said. "I'm sorry, I didn't see your house there."

"That's okay!" she said, beaming. "It's supposed to be camofaj. My name is Gale. What's your name?"

"Harry,"  he said. 

"Are you going to the festival? I want to go, but my Mum went to put up decorations, and my Momma is asleep because she went on a mission last night," Gale said.

"I came with my godbrother," Harry said. "But I got scared and ran. And now I don't know where he is."

Gale lit up. "Oooh! That sounds like a mission! I can get Momma to rescue you!"

"No, no, don't wake her up!" Harry said.

"But... you need a rescue!" Gale pleaded. "That's what Momma does! She rescues people!"

Harry cringed. "I don't want anyone to be angry at me."

Another elf's voice came from the branch next to him. "Definitely not angry. A little sleepy maybe, but someone will have coffee down at the festival."

"Momma!" Gale said happily. "You woke up!"

"Course I did. You were calling loud enough, Tater" the other elf said. "I'm Ruby. What's your name?"

"Harry. Harry Potter."

"And can you tell me what humans you came with?"

"Er... Alice Longbottom and Zenovia Joy and Papaw Marchbanks... I forgot his first name. He said to call him Papaw. And my godbrother Neville Longbottom," Harry said.

"Alright. Are you okay for me to pop you directly to your godmother? Or do you want to climb down the tree and walk to them?" Ruby said.

"You know where she is? Just like that, when you just woke up?" Harry said.

Gale was bursting with pride. "It's cause she's a rescuer!"

Ruby laughed. "No, silly girl. It's because they're in the Sanctuary, and I know who all the humans in the Sanctuary are. It's an elf power. If we were attached to a family, we'd know where everyone in the house was, family and guests. The elves at Hogwarts know where all the students are. It's just one of the things we can do."

Harry thought that sounded pretty cool. "I guess you can pop me to my godmother."

"Gale, come take my other hand," Ruby said. And Gale popped out of the house and onto the branch to take her Momma's other hand. Then the three of them popped out of the tree.

* * *

"Mum I don't know where he went, he was so fast!" Neville said. He had gone back to find Mum and Zenovia straight away after Harry had run, but he didn't know what else to do. Luna had come with him, and had assured him it would be okay.

"The elves won't let anything happen to him," she said. And he knew it was true. But he also knew that Harry was  _his brother_ and  _his responsibility._

Bippy was wringing his hands. "Bippy did not know whether to chase Harry or stay with Neville."

Zenovia crouched in front of them. "It's okay, Bippy. You can't be in two places at once. And Neville, you did the right thing, coming to us. Now let us find him. We know that no one here will let any harm come to him."

Then as she was speaking to some of the Sanctuary elves about their missing child, Harry was delivered directly to them by two elves.

Neville barrelled them all over to give Harry a hug.

* * *

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dobby: We are slaves. We cannot leave bad masters unless we are given clothes.  
> Author: You are seriously powerful creatures. So... I'm pretty sure you can.  
> Other house elves: We're slaves. And we want to be.  
> Author: That sounds like gaslighting and domestic abuse to me.  
> Author: S.P.E.W. isn't going to cut it. Elves rescuing elves in my headcanon.


	11. Lucius - June 21, 1979 to March 20, 1982

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucius Malfoy is second in command - except when he isn't.
> 
> * * *

**_Malfoy Manor_ **  
**_Inner Circle Meeting_ **  
**_June 21, 1979_ **

"In all things, Lucius Malfoy is my second in command," the Dark Lord said. "But... if I am ever killed or incapacitated, then any orders that Corwin Crouch gives will be obeyed as if they come from me."

Lucius didn't understand this at all. Corwin Crouch? Barely of age? Yes, he was brilliant, but he didn't have the experience to take over the Death Eaters in the Master's absence.

But there was only one answer to give.

"Yes, my Lord."

**_November 1, 1981_ **

The day after the Dark Lord fell, Lucius received an owl, with a coded message that said, "Stay out of Azk, by whatever means necessary. Keep as many of the family out as you can. -Corwin"

**_November 9, 1981_ **

Corwin Crouch floo'd in by appointment, and said, "Griselda Marchbanks."

"The Board will want McGonagall," Lucius said. He was used to Corwin starting conversations in the middle.

"Merlin take the Board." Corwin took a ring off his finger and handed it to Lucius.

“That’s a Lordship ring,” Lucius said, in awe. “But your father…”

“It isn’t the _Crouch_ ring,” Corwin growled. He hated talking about his father.

Lucius looked at the crest on the ring, and his eyes went wide. “Ravenclaw? You’re Lord Ravenclaw?!”

“I became the Heir of Ravenclaw when I was still at Hogwarts, in fifth year,” Corwin said. “It’s a legend among the ‘Claws, and quite a few people have solved the first few puzzles in the series, but there were hundreds of different puzzles or tests, and by the end, they were fiendishly difficult. They didn’t just require magical knowledge, but goblin mathematics as well. It was brilliant!”

“And solving the last puzzle got you the ring?” Lucius asked.

“Solving the last puzzle gained me entry into the Forbidden Library,” Corwin said. “At first I thought it was just a collection of books, like any pureblood library. But then far too many of the books have been written since Rowena’s time, and there are portraits too, all of people regarded as villains or criminals. A display cabinet of weapons, another of relics, another of muggle items, and another of joke products. And I finally realised that everything in the Library is something that has been banned or forbidden by one of the Heads of Hogwarts.”

“Salazar…!” Lucius breathed.

“Oh yes, he’s there too,” Corwin said. “His portrait is old and has trouble understanding modern English, but we're able to converse in Latin. Godric and Rowena are there too.”

“But not Helga Hufflepuff?” Lucius asked.

“Her portrait is still in the Puff common room,” Corwin said. “She’s a lovely woman. Since she’s been in her common room for 1000 years, she does speak modern English.”

“When were you in the Hufflepuff Sett?” Lucius asked.

“Hundreds of puzzles, all over the castle. I’ve been in all the common rooms,” Corwin said. “Anyway, the point is… in addition to the Forbidden Library, I have… rather a lot of power over Hogwarts as Lord Ravenclaw. I don’t want to come out publicly, but if you’re willing to bear the heat for me, I can give you my proxy on the Board.”

“A seat on the Board? What else do you have?”

“No, not a  _seat_  on the Board. 10% voting rights, according to charter. If all four Lords were present, we’d control 40% of the Board,” Corwin said. “And a sizeable Gringotts vault. I want it used to make Hogwarts glorious again. Our Lord wanted - _wants_ \- that too. He was going to handle the Slytherin political stuff, while I went to University.”

Lucius grimaced. “ _Muggle_ University. You’re studying for your… doctorage?”

“Doctorate, in Education Studies. I don’t need to learn more magic. Do you think I can learn more magic from any school than I learned from our Lord? Than I’ve learned from Rowena’s library?” Corwin asked defensively. "But I am taking a leave of absence now. There is too much I need to do in order to bring him back."

Lucius just gaped at him. This  _kid_ was talking about bringing someone back from the dead, as if they were talking about an OWL project?

"You get Marchbanks in. That's what our Lord wants of you. That, and to continue handling our people until Master returns," Corwin said. Then, to Lucius's surprise, despite the fact that Corwin had been giving orders, he knelt to Lucius and kissed his ring. "You act on our Lord's behalf. I am only his messenger."

**_January 18, 1982_**

Corwin landed within the wards, using the emergency Portkey that Lucius had given him, covered with dirt and grime and with a large snake wrapped around him. 

"Lucius, kneel," Corwin said, with a beatific smile. "This is our Lord."

Lucius hesitated, and said, "How do you know?"

The snake hissed, and Corwin laughed, and said, "He says to tell you that the first time you met him, you were six years old. You had come bursting into a meeting because you thought you'd Banished all the Peacocks. It turned out that you'd just made them invisible."

Lucius was instantly on his knees. "My Lord."

_How could Corwin talk to snakes?_

**_March 20, 1982_ **  
**_Malfoy Ritual Room  
_ **

In the end, they decided they only needed the three of them. Narcissa and Lucius to manage the potion, while Corwin and the Dark Lord Snake conducted the ritual.

"Bone of the ancestor, unknowingly given, you will resurrect your descendant," Corwin intoned, dropping a skull into the massive cauldron.

"Magic of the student, willingly offered, you will renew your Master," he said, and he aimed his wand at the cauldron, not casting a spell, but simply pouring pure magic through his wand. Lucius had no idea how he knew how much to use.

Then he took a small black book. "Blood of a memory, bitterly released, you will revive your body." He stabbed the book with a goblin knife, and ink dripped from it, into the cauldron, and then he dropped the entire book into the liquid.

Finally he lowered the snake that contained the Dark Lord towards the cauldron, but stopped before the snake reached the liquid. The snake breathed out, a dark black miasma, that mixed into the liquid, but he carefully set the snake outside the ritual circle when he had finished with it.

Corwin chanted in Latin, taking over stirring the cauldron, and Lucius saw the bare shoulder of a man, emerging from the cauldron. Corwin set aside the stirring staff and reached down to help him up.

The man tried to stand, toppled the cauldron, which was now dry and empty, and fell to the ground. 

And he screamed.

* * *

* * *

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Voldemort: *makes a sentient horcrux*  
> Voldemort: *gives it to one of my Inner Circle*  
> Voldemort: *doesn't tell that person to consult the diary if anything happens to me*  
> Voldemort: *wonders why it takes me 13 years to get a body again*


	12. Resurrection - March 20, 1982

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened at the vernal equinox...  
> (CW: hints of dub-con sex due to power imbalance and lack of communication. Everyone is actually willing, as we discover later. The Magic Made Them Do It.)
> 
> * * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommendation:  
>  [rise like a phoenix in the desert winds](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8624473/chapters/19776076) by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel  
>  _The one where Anakin Skywalker wishes for a second chance as he lies dying, and is reborn as a boy named Harry Potter._
> 
> * * *
> 
> * * *
> 
> **_May the Fourth be with You ___**
> 
> ____
> 
> * * *
> 
> * * *

**_Malfoy Manor_ **  
**_Ritual Room_ **  
**_March 20, 1982_ **

Tom has been in a book for nearly forty years. 

He has simulated sensations within his mind palace to keep himself sane.

 

But now that he is receiving live sensations into a living body, he realises how hollow those simulations actually were.

Forty years with no body.

Forty years as a book.

Forty years...

 

His eyes burn from the dim candlelight. His throat hurts from the screaming. His magic is flaring out of his control.

 

The cauldron Vanishes, and someone wraps his arms around him from behind. "I've got you, Tom," he says. "You're here. I've got you." A name flashes through Tom's mind -  _Corwin -_ and Tom can feel a bond there, though he'd never made a magical bond with anyone in his life. But Corwin is  _his_ and this body is responding to his presence. Settling, if only a little.

Someone is pouring a potion into him. Calming Draught. That isn’t what he needs. He grabs this new person - a woman whose name he can't remember - and kisses her roughly.

“Make me feel. Someone, please. Make it real," he pleads.

Before he'd become a book, sex was something he had only used occasionally as a tool or as stress relief. After his imprisonment, there was only simulated sex with simulated people, more as a way of passing the time than anything else.

But right now he needs to be fucked. He needs to be touched.

The woman with the Calming Draught is pulling away from him - _intolerable_! - but no, it is only to drop her robes. “Of course, my Lord, anything.”

He looks at his three acolytes, and they are all so _precious_ and _obliging_ and ready to _kneel_ and _offer,_ and he can’t bear it. He tears through their minds, pushing into them images of what he wants: hot and sweaty and awkward and painful. He wants to be fucked. He wants it to _hurt._  He wants to be covered in bites and bruises and scratches and spunk. He wants to be _used._

Tonight, he doesn’t want to be their Lord. He wants to be _human_. He wants to be a body.

 

When he wakes many hours later, he has come out of the frenzy that had overcome him. The memories from two different soul-states are beginning to merge. He burns with shame when he remembers that his bond with Corwin was a Master-Apprentice bond, not a marital bond, and that he never should have used his student like that. He finally remembers the names - Lucius Malfoy and Narcissus Black - of the other two followers who had given him what he so badly needed. 

 

 _We’re still in the ritual circle…_ he realises. _We added sex magic to a resurrection ritual._

_That wasn’t part of the plan…_

* * *

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canon!Voldemort: I haven't had a physical body for a decade. Suddenly having one will not change my personality in any noticeable way.  
> Fanon!Voldemort: SALAZAR'S SCROTUM! HORMONES! NERVES! SENSES! I HAVE TO ACTUALLY BREATHE NOW! I CAN FEEL AIR TOUCHING MY EYEBALLS! HOW DO HUMANS EVEN?!!!!!


	13. Three Conversations - March 21, 1982

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day after the resurrection.
> 
> (After more chapters are written from Harry and Neville's storyline, I'll probably rearrange so they are alternated again. But this part of the story wants to be written first.)
> 
> * * *

_**Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire** _   
_**Breakfast Room** _   
_**March 21, 1982** _

Lucius disentangled himself from his sleeping lovers of the night before, noticing that at some point they'd been moved to the Master suite. Noticing that Narcissa was not among them. He knew she was an early riser, and that she was probably already in the breakfast room. Once he had cleaned up, he found his way to her.

She smiled radiantly at him, and poured him a coffee. “Good morning, my light.”

“And you, my flower.” He leaned forward and kissed her lips softly, noticing they were swollen from last night. Noticing the bruises on her patrician neck. He wasn’t sure how to approach the conversation they needed to have. “Last night…”

“Do you regret it?” she asked, linking her fingers with his. “Our Lord needed us.”

“I didn’t expect it,” he said. Just remembering last night was making his cock swell, and he didn’t need that for this conversation. “He needed us. And we were there for him.”

“So there is no blame. We were there together, so our marriage vows are not shaken. So long as you and I still trust one another,” Narcissa said firmly.

“How could I do otherwise? You are my everything. I thank Hecate every day that your sister Andromeda ran away with that muggle-born so that the betrothal contract fell to you,” Lucius said.

“As do I,” Narcissa said.

They ate silently, and watched the birds in the garden for some time before Lucius said, "I've never... with another man. Not until last night." He felt his face growing warm as he confessed, because it wasn't the full truth. He hadn't done anything with another man, but he'd desired, and fantasised.

His flower suddenly gripped his wrist, painfully, and as he looked at her in surprise, she said, "You loved it."

"Narcissa..."

Her other hand reached for his cock, where she found the evidence there. "You loved fucking our Master. You loved being used by Corwin Crouch. _And it was glorious_."

His wife almost never used vulgar language, so when she used it to talk dirty to him, it was like a magic current directly to his cock. "Flower, please..."

She smirked. "I enjoyed you begging last night. I should like to make you beg some more..."

* * *

* * *

 

_**Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire** _   
_**Master Bedroom** _   
_**March 21, 1982** _

Tom Riddle woke in the arms of his saviour, the man who had brought him back from death and insanity. He put a hand gently on Corwin's cheek, running his thumb along his lips.

Corwin opened his eyes. “Master…”

“Tom. Call me Tom.”

“I couldn’t,” he said. "I'm your apprentice."

“To you, I’m Tom. Please, Corwin. My angel,” Tom said, refusing to let Corwin look away. “Please say my name.”

“Tom."

Tom rewarded him with a kiss, soft and yielding, then pulled away. "I shouldn't have. I was so confused last night. I felt there was a bond to you. I shouldn't have abused you."

"I'm not a child," Corwin said, running his hand through Tom's hair. "I wanted it. I've wanted you since the first night we met. Both parts of you. I never thought you'd want me."

Tom groaned and gave in to his desire to pull his apprentice close, breathing in his scent, speaking into his ear. “You saved me, Corwin. You can’t imagine the nightmare you saved me from. Both of me."

“I had help…” he protested.

“Not until the end. You were there in the library, in Albania. _You_. My angel. They will be rewarded too, but you above all. You are mine, Corwin,” Tom said fiercely.

Corwin gazed into his eyes, his pupils blown. “Yes. Yours. Always, My L - Tom.”

* * *

* * *

 

**_Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire_ **   
**_Green Sitting Room_ **   
**_March 21, 1982_ **

The four of them met again after lunch. 

The Dark Lord marvelled in his new body. He had forgotten how much of his humanity he had lost when he had begun to make _horcruxes._ But now, his first _horcrux,_ the diary, had been sacrificed, but that one had contained fully half of his original soul, and the memory of a Tom Riddle who looked like a dark Adonis. And yet… he hadn’t _lusted_ like this when he’d been 16.

Tom kept his angel, his Corwin, within reach always. Lucius and Narcissa were his treasures, but he didn't feel an immediate desire to bring them back to his bed. So long as they were close. It felt that the four of them could hardly bear to be apart. Corwin speculated that sex magic, combined with the resurrection ritual, had bound them in some way, but it was a type of ritual with no precedent.

He had decided not to summon the Death Eaters. His angel and his treasures, would be enough for now. They were the ones who had risked all to bring him back. They were more than an inner circle. They were his elite. None could ever surpass them in his attentions.

Narcissa and Corwin had never received a Dark Mark. That left only Lucius with the Mark that Tom Riddle had always privately thought of as the brand for his slaves. But now, for Lucius, that could not remain. He removed Lucius’s Mark and gave all four of them a new symbol, the sign of the Ouroboros, above the heart.

The Dark Lord's personality was tempered by merge of his younger self. He felt himself drawn much more to Hogwarts than to revolution. They discussed various plans, and he finally settled on going to the Continent to take his N.E.W.T.s, as Tomman Gaunt. There actually was a Continental branch of the Gaunts, or had been, and Grindelwald's war had destroyed records everywhere. Having a descendant turn up wasn't unlikely. Lucius could pay the Goblins for the paperwork needed to show up as his own second or third cousin.

"And after that, Hogwarts," Corwin said. "I understand their Archivist is quite a fit young man." Tom had Corwin draped across his lap.

Lucius laughed, and Tom noticed that Lucius was sporting rope burns on his wrists. Try as he might, he couldn't remember ropes being part of their festivities last night. 

"There's a fellow on the Board of Governors I'd like to see on his knees," Narcissa purred, petting her husband's hair. 

"Anytime my Mistress wishes," Lucius said, his face bright red. 

"My treasures," the Dark Lord said, feeling an emotion he didn't think he'd ever experienced before. He'd known all three of them before... what was so different now?  _Mine,_ he thought, and kissed his angel fiercely.  _Mine. All of you are mine._

* * *

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canon!Lucius: *walks around swaggering, cold and domineering*  
> Canon!Lucius: *kneeling and crawling to the Dark Lord to kiss his hem*  
> Author: Oh you are such a secret submissive, aren't you?  
> Lucius: *eyes lowered* ...Maybe?  
> Author: And Narcissa takes good care of you, doesn't she?  
> Narcissa: *eyes gleaming* Oh yes. Yes I do. Kiss my toes, dearest.  
> Author: I'll leave you to it....


End file.
